Suicide Rates May Be Misleading

Every 104 minutes, someone between the ages of 15 and 24 committed suicide in 1982, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

That statement, based on 5,025 adolescent suicides that year, takes into account only the number of death certificates listing suicide as the cause of death.

Stephen Uman thinks the actual rate is four to five times higher.

In his newsletter, S.O.S., Uman gave three reasons for the discrepancy:

1. Suicides and suicide attempts are often called accidents or something else because insurance does not cover suicide. There are thus very valid financial reasons for both parents and doctors to ``cover up`` suicide activity.

2. Suicide is not an ``acceptable`` way to die by certain segments of society. So suicidal deaths or attempts are purposely called ``accidents`` so as not to ``brand`` the parents and family of the victim.

3. Who knows how many traffic accidents and drug overdoses were actually well-concealed attempts at committing suicide?

At the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D.C., Dr. Susan Blumenthal said many experts agree that the stigma of suicide leads to coverups. She thinks the actual rate is two to three times higher than the number of suicides reported on death certificates.

Suicide is becoming more common among 15- to 24-year-olds.

In the mid-1950s, there were 4.1 suicides for every 100,000 people in that age range. By 1980, that jumped to 12.5 suicides per 100,000, said Dorothy Lewis, an NIMH social science analyst.